It’s been so wonderful ( sometimes challenging 😬) living and working with daughters, Michelle and Molly here on St. John. We are sharing a 2 bedroom apartment in an area called Gifft Hill. Getting to the house/apartment is quite the experience since the road down is a rutted out mess of different stages of cement or asphalt repair and potholes. Bumping along in the car up and down can begin and end your day cursing “why doesn’t someone fix this damn road!!!!🤬”
Well, today we are bumping along down the road with my son Nathan and his girlfriend, Jessie. They have arrived on St John with Nathan and Molly‘s dad ( yes, my ex), his sister and his girlfriend. My ex and I had made peace several years ago and we always put the kids first so this was not as crazy as some people may have thought whenever introductions were made on island. “Now, who is this person? And what is your relationship??😳🤭😆” We were all fine with it and that’s all that mattered.
As I said, we were going to have Nathan and Jessie stay with us at the apartment while my ex, his sister and girlfriend were going to stay at an Airbnb. We entered the enclosed large front porch where we had set up a bed for them and immediately saw this:
Nate said, “Nope, not staying here!” And made the quick exit with Jessie to his dad’s Airbnb🤣. They didn’t care if they had to sleep on the floor, at least it was tarantula-free!! That was Day One.
Day Two: Michelle and I have to go to work but Molly was able to go to beautiful Trunk Bay with the family and afterwards we met up at the Beach Bar to listen to a band and do some dancing. We are all dancers so a good time was had by all! Everyone was happy and thrilled to be on St. John.
Day Three: Michelle is excited to be able to take the family out to Lienster Bay to snorkel Waterlemon Cay.
It’s a little bit of a hike along the shore but very easy since you do not have to climb any steep hills to get to the area near the beach accessible to swim out to the cay.
Michelle, Molly and I are pretty experienced swimmers/ snorkelers but the rest of the group is not. Some brought swim noodles and snorkel gear but the only person who had fins was Jessie ( she knew she wasn’t a very capable swimmer). I was a little concerned because the current near Waterlemon Cay can be pretty strong but mostly it’s only on the north and northeast side of the cay. We were entering more from the southeast and Michelle instructed us to swim to the south side where there is a little sandy area to get out and rest before swimming back.
Michelle and Molly take the lead as the others follow and I take the rear to watch how everyone is doing. Right away, Nathan and his dad are switching off the swim noodle since neither one are strong swimmers and they had given the other remaining noodles to the girlfriends (sister wisely decided to stay on the beach). Nathan had had a bad experience snorkeling in the Bahamas when he was only 12 so pretty much handed the noodle off to his dad and he and Jessie decide to turn around and swim back after they are halfway to the cay. He is done. His dad and girlfriend press on and follow Michelle then we all stop and rest on the cay. Michelle says she’s going to swim around the north/ northeast side and warns it’s really only for experienced swimmers because the current is strong. I am already tired and decide to swim back the way I came in but the others follow Michelle. Michelle and Molly round the cay like champs but when they look back, Molly’s dad and girlfriend are struggling , the current has taken them and now they are trying to scramble up the wrong side of the cay on sharp coral and stinging sea urchins!!!!😨 Michelle swims hard to go back and save them from harm. By the time everyone is safe and sound on the beach we agree the ocean is nothing to take lightly! Whew!
Day Four: Today we are venturing out to the other end of the island to Coral Bay and we are going to show everyone Salt Pond and Drunk Bay. I love to have them start out at Salt Pond on the calm Caribbean Sea side and then take the short hike to Drunk Bay on the wild Atlantic side.
After we make our various art designs with the coral , we leave Coral Bay and head back to “town”, Cruz Bay. Today is Super Bowl Sunday and what better way than to watch it on the beach!!
****Next week’s blog, we continue with the blended family vacation and pictures of one of the most beautiful golf courses in the world, fun unique dining , sailing and open mic night with family participation!
Traveling Rose in St. John 